In this installement of the series, we are back in the DarkRiver Pack. The hero is Clay, one of Lucas’s Sentinel and the heroine is Talin, a human.

Clay and Talin are true mate, they bonded when they were kids. They used to live in the same low income neighborhood, Talin with her foster family and Clay with his human mother.

Clay’s parents were mate but when his father died, his mother couldn’t bear to see Clay in panther form so he was de facto forced to stifle his cat. Although it was killing a part of him, in order to appease his mother he managed to do so until the day he saw Talin being abused by her foster father and unleashed his panther.

It was the last time they saw each other until now, she was 8 and he was 14.

Talin is a Gardian for the Shine Foundation. Her job is to take care of destitute and talented orphan kids. Lately, several of the kids under the care of the Shine Foundation disappeared and ended up found dead. When another of her kids disappears, she is determined to find him alive and stop the culprits. But she also knows that except for one cop, she can’t count on the enforcement system to help her find him, so she sought the help of the most powerful being she knows, Clay.

Their reunion wasn’t a happy one, and not only because of the dramatic situation of the disappearing and murdered kids. Because of her, Clay was convinced that Talin was dead for more than fifteen years and if that wasn’t enough, Talin’s reactions to Clay infuriates him. So things aren’t easy for them.

Besides the love story I loved the police investigation and I absolutely LOVE Nalini Singh kids!!!

In this book, Nalini Singh introduces Max, the Shine Foundation and the Forgotten, other players in the game.

A thing I really do appreciate in this series, unless other series, is that all the introduction of new characters are smooth and really bring something to the general arc. In this book we also have the set up for the next one, Hostage to Pleasure.